Nearly 10% of all child sex crimes in one county in Maryland involved defendants who are illegal immigrants from Central American countries, according to a new report, which also found they get more lenient sentences than U.S. offenders.
A Fox45 investigation found that Baltimore County’s state attorney filed 99 child sex crime cases between January 1 2023 and the end of May 2024. Of those, nine defendants over the 17-month period were illegal immigrants from Central American countries.
The outlet cited court records that it said showed the three that had been sentenced had been given lenient sentences. One illegal immigrant found guilty of raping a 14-year-old was given a 25-year sentence reduced to 18 months, while another arrested for multiple counts of child sex crimes was given five years of supervised probation.
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A spokesman for the circuit court told the outlet: "While we cannot comment on individual cases, judges base their decisions on many different factors that are often unique to each case."
"One such factor may be the understanding that an individual who is subject to an ICE or other federal detainer will be taken into custody by ICE or another federal agency immediately upon the end of whatever state sentence is imposed," they said, also noting that another factor is plea agreement terms, which judges can accept or reject.
The outlet found that, in three similar cases to illegal immigrants, Black defendants received prison time of four years or more, and two out of 11 closed cases involving Black defendants reportedly resulted in sentences of 12 years or more in prison.
But the number of illegal immigrants among the alleged child sex offenders is likely to fuel concerns about a migrant crime wave that Republicans have pointed to in the middle of an election year when the ongoing crisis at the southern border has been a top political issue.
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Former President Trump this week sought again to tie the number of high-profile illegal immigrant crimes to the policies of the Biden administration.
"Kamala Harris was appointed border czar, as you know, in March 2021, and since that time, millions and millions of illegal aliens have invaded our country, and countless Americans have been killed by migrant crime because of her willful demolition of American borders and laws," Trump said on a call with reporters.
Trump contrasted his policies on border security with those of the administration. Just as the Biden administration ended many of his policies after taking office, he pledged to scrap Biden's policies if he is elected.
The Biden administration has pinned the blame for the crisis on Republicans in Congress for not having approved funding and reforms to what it says is a "broken" system. In a response to Trump's comments, the Harris campaign pointed to policies he implemented when in office, and recent placards calling for mass deportations at the Republican National Convention.
"The only ‘plan’ Donald Trump has to secure our border is ripping mothers from their children and a few xenophobic placards at the Republican National Convention. He tanked the toughest bipartisan border security deal in a generation because for Donald Trump, this has never been about actually securing the border – it’s always about himself. He can make up whatever lies he wants, but the fact is there’s only one candidate in this race who will fight for real solutions to help secure our nation’s border, and that’s Vice President Harris," Harris campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in response.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
